"When people look online for information about humanitarian crises, they increasingly encounter media content that blurs the line between reality and fiction. This includes everything from rumour and exaggeration to partisan journalism and completely invented stories designed to look like real news
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(so-called ‘fake news’). This article shows that disinformation is causing real and serious harm to those affected by humanitarian emergencies; it can undermine the ability of humanitarian workers to provide relief; and it has exacerbated conflict and violence. Disinformation is also making it harder for journalists to report on the humanitarian sector, and hold the powerful to account, because it undermines audience trust in information more generally. The article concludes by considering interventions that could address the challenges of disinformation. It argues for more support of quality journalism about humanitarian crises, as well as media literacy training. Finally, it is crucial that aid agencies and news outlets commit to accuracy and fact checking in their reporting and campaigning." (Abstract)
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"The search and rescue of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants on the Mediterranean has become a site of major political contestation in Europe, on the seas, in parliaments and government offices and in online public opinion. This article summarises one particular set of controversies, namely, fals
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e claims that the non-government organisations conducting such search and rescue operations are actively ‘colluding’ with people smugglers to ferry people into Europe. In spring and summer 2017, these claims of ‘collusion’ emerged from state agencies and from anti-immigration groups, became viral on social media platforms and rapidly moved into mainstream media coverage, criminal investigations by prosecutors and the speech and laws of politicians across the continent. These claims were in turn connected to far-right conspiracy theories about ‘flooding’ Europe with ‘invaders’. By looking at the experience of one particular ship, the MV Aquarius, run in partnership by MSF and SOS Méditerranée, the authors detail the risks that humanitarian organisations now face from such types of disinformation campaign. If humanitarian organisations do not prepare themselves against this risk, they will find themselves in a world turned upside-down, in which their efforts to help people in distress become evidence of criminal activity." (Abstract)
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"The current report illuminates the scope, means, and reach of Russia’s sharp power influence through the phenomenon of media capture. It traces the regime’s malign impact on good governance and democratic development in eight Southeast European countries (EU members: Bulgaria and Croatia, as we
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ll as EU aspirants: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo). An understanding of the Kremlin’s media influence has been developed based on the assessment of: (1) the instruments that Russia deploys to expand its influence over public discourses; (2) the channels and narratives of Russian disinformation utilized to sway views of the West and its key institutions, the EU and NATO; (3) the impact of Kremlin narratives on societal perceptions; (4) the amplification of Russian media influence through a convergence with the disinformation activities of other authoritarian states, particularly China. The cross-country regional comparison reveals several key similarities in Russia’s media capture tactics. The Kremlin typically deploys informal instruments of influence. These are manifested in the cultivation of opaque local oligarchic networks, rather than through traceable ownership of SEE media companies. To amplify the impact of these informal tools, Russia has also leveraged the dependence of media outlets in the region on advertising revenue from Russian-owned or dependent companies to exert pressure on their editorial policy. In addition, Russian state-owned propaganda outlets make their content freely available for republishing in local languages, which facilitates the uptake of pro-Russian media content." (Executive summary)
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"This article examines the relationship between fake news and social media as increasingly important sources of news, at a time when mainstream media no longer have exclusive control over news production and dissemination. It has been evident that few media outlets and professionals tend to draw con
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flicting news about COVID-19 from social media feeds, which are largely produced by common citizens with mostly no journalism training. This pervasive use makes social media key sources to scores of media outlets for news, whether it is related to COVID-19 or public affairs issues, even though it is susceptible to torrents of credibility and accuracy issues. As a result, of the overwhelming spread of fake news on coronavirus, which is contributing to framing events from several angles, media professionals are now obliged to track and vet information circulating on social media. Due to the scale of disinformation spreading on the Web, it has become imperative that the credibility and accuracy of news is thoroughly verified. Media organizations have already been putting in place various mechanisms to monitor false news. This article will attempt to identify and assess these monitoring efforts in the Arab world. For this purpose, I have put together a list of Arab observatories launched on the internet in order to monitor fake news circulating in relation to COVID-19, and to discuss their methods of monitoring work, in the context of mobilization carried out by governments and many organizations such as the World Health Organization. This article is pinned down on social responsibility approach which helps pave the way the differentpropositions to combat fake news and avoid abuses in social media uses. This article proposes an evaluation of the monitoring initiative viaa- vis fake news and proposes a set of guidelines for improving the work of such monitoring bodies. Hence, this research reveals that social media outlets have diversified their goals to match the power of the conventional media in disseminating information and bringing up issues for debate. However, in the light of the framework of social responsibility, social media actors have to constantly develop a set of ethical practices to be observed by users, establish codes of conduct regulating content production, and lay down a code of integrity to assure accuracy in news and information transmission." (Abstract).
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"This paper focuses on the content features of intentional deceptive information in the news (i.e., fake news) and on social media. Based on an extensive review of relevant literature (i.e., political journalism and communication, computational linguistics), we take stock of existing knowledge and p
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resent an overview of the structural characteristics that are indicative of intentionally deceptive information. We discuss the strength of underlying empirical evidence and identify underdeveloped areas of research. With this paper, we aim to contribute to the systematic study of intentional deception in the news and on social media and to help setting up new lines of research in which intentionally deceptive news items can be operationalized in consistent ways." (Abstract)
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"False political information spreads far and fast across social media, with negative consequences for society. Individual users play a key role in sharing such material, extending its range through the phenomenon of organic reach. An online experiment tested the hypotheses that higher trust in the s
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ource of false information, and lower agreeableness of the person encountering it, would predict their likelihood of extending its reach. One hundred and seventy-two participants saw real examples of disinformation stories that had been posted to social media and rated their likelihood of sharing and interacting with it in other ways. Neither trust in the source nor agreeableness influenced organic reach. However, people lower in conscientiousness rated themselves as more likely to extend its reach, as did people who believed the stories more likely to be true." (Abstract)
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"In most African countries, “fake news,” politically motivated disinformation, and misinformation in the media were common occurrences before these became a preoccupation in the Global North. However, with a fast-growing population of mobile users, and the popularization of apps such as WhatsApp
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, misinformation has become much more pervasive across the continent. Researchers have shown that perceived exposure to false information is high in some African countries, and yet citizens often share made-up news intentionally. This article explores the motivations and contributing factors for sharing misinformation in six sub-Saharan African countries. Our analysis of 12 focus groups with university students reveals two common motivations: civic duty and fun. The sharing of political (dis)information was uneven, but common among students with high levels of self-reported political engagement. We also present an array of cues used to determine credibility, which often determines the shareability of information. Crossnational differences are also discussed." (Abstract)
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"This study explores the various methods of combating fake news on social media such as Natural Language Processing, Hybrid model. We surmised that detecting fake news is a challenging and complex issue, however, it remains a workable task. Revelation in this study holds that the application of hybr
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id-machine learning techniques and the collective effort of humans could stand a higher chance of fighting misinformation on social media." (Abstract)
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"Drawing from various disciplines including media studies, political science, and cognitive science, this study adopts a holistic approach to understand the dynamics that influence the impact of false information on Singaporeans. We provide empirical evidence on Singaporeans’ susceptibility to fal
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se information and how it is influenced by their demographic (e.g., age and education) and non-demographic traits (e.g., information-seeking behaviours, and political and psychological traits). In addition, we examine different aspects of false information that Singaporeans are susceptible to, such as their exposure to and belief in false information of various topics (e.g., health and medicine, government and politics), formats (e.g., image, text, audio), and on different media platforms (e.g., social networking sites, Instant Messaging platforms). Furthermore, using an approach that is novel in the field of misinformation and disinformation studies, we evaluate how well Singaporeans performed in terms of assessing information veracity, by embedding a manipulated news article in the survey for respondents to read and judge." (Executive summary)
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"Auf der Grundlage der identifizierten Schutzlücken erarbeitet das Gutachten mögliche Gegenmaßnahmen und beschreibt die nötigen Wirkungsvoraussetzungen. Die zentrale Frage lautet: Welche Risikopotenziale für individuelle und gesellschaftliche Interessen weist Desinformation auf und welche Gover
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nance-Maßnahmen können darauf adäquat reagieren? Die Beantwortung dieser Leitfrage erfolgt dabei in drei Schritten: Vorangestellt (Kap. 2) werden die in wissenschaftlichen und medienpolitischen Diskussionen differenzierten Erscheinungsformen von Desinformation sowie ihre jeweiligen Begriffsverständnisse zusammengefasst und auf ihre Risikopotenziale hin untersucht. Ziel ist es, die Spannweite betroffener Phänomene aufzuzeigen und sie von anderen Erscheinungsformen und Begrifflichkeiten zu differenzieren. Dabei erfolgt auch eine Bewertung der Abgrenzungsindikatoren im Hinblick auf die Nutzbarkeit für rechtliche bzw. regulatorische Anknüpfungspunkte. Zudem wird hier kurz der Stand der Forschung hinsichtlich der abträglichen Effekte von Desinformation für individuelle und gesellschaftsbezogene Schutzziele einbezogen; Kenntnisse über Wirkungen von Desinformation auf einzelne Rezipientinnen und Rezipienten liegen hier bislang nur lückenhaft vor. Dies steht in gewissem Kontrast zu den eher impliziten Unterstellungen, die den aktuellen Regulierungsforderungen zugrunde liegen. Dort, wo empirische Evidenzen vorliegen, zeigt das Gutachten jedenfalls vermutete Effekte und ihre Risikopotenziale auf. Im zweiten Schritt (Kap. 3) wird der geltende Rechtsrahmen daraufhin untersucht, welche gesetzlichen Vorkehrungen gegen eine Risikorealisierung bereits bestehen und welche untergesetzlichen Initiativen sich auf Ebene von Ko- und Selbstregulierung entwickelt haben, die als Gegenkraft wirken können. An dieser Stelle setzt die Untersuchung die Arbeit des GVK-Gutachtens von Möller, Hameleers und Ferreau fort,5 indem bestehende risikospezifische Schutzlücken mit Blick auf die identifizierten Risikopotenziale herausgearbeitet werden. Dort, wo Schutzlücken erkennbar werden, zeigt das Gutachten staatliche Handlungsmöglichkeiten und -grenzen auf. Im dritten Schritt (Kap. 4) werden regulatorische Ansatzpunkte und -instrumente, die in der Lage sind, die identifizierten Schutzlücken zu schließen, beleuchtet. Klassische Ansätze der Medienregulierung eignen sich hier meist begrenzt, da für den Bereich der öffentlichen Kommunikation der Grundsatz gilt, dass es nicht staatliche Aufgabe sein kann und darf, über die Einstufungen wahr/unwahr oder erwünschte Meinung/unerwünschte Meinung zu befinden. Hier müssen – soweit überhaupt Handeln angezeigt ist – Wege staatsferner, prozeduraler Steuerung betreten6 oder alternative Formen von inhalts- und technikbezogener Governance entwickelt werden. Alternativ oder ergänzend kommen neben Maßnahmen, die diskursermöglichend oder -unterstützend wirken, auch Gegenmaßnahmen in Betracht, die informationsintegritätssteigernde oder -integrierende Wirkungen haben können." (Seite 4-5)
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"There is no commonly agreed typology framework, specific categorization criteria, and explicit definitions as a basis to assist the further investigation of the area. Our work is focused on filling this need. Our contribution is twofold. First, we collect the various implicit and explicit disinform
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ation typologies proposed by scholars. We consolidate the findings following certain design principles to articulate an all-inclusive disinformation typology. Second, we propose three independent dimensions with controlled values per dimension as categorization criteria for all types of disinformation. The taxonomy can promote and support further multidisciplinary research to analyze the special characteristics of the identified disinformation types." (Abstract)
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"The Digital Enquirer Kit is an e-learning course that guides learners through lessons on how to prevent the spread of misinformation, available on the free platform atingi.org. The course covers topics including media literacy, verification, and how to navigate the internet safely. The first four m
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odules have been authored by Tactical Tech: Module 1: Identifying and Responding to Misinformation; Module 2: Verifying Online Information; Module 3: Collaborating on and Documenting Your Digital Enquiry; Module 4: Examining and Sharing Your Findings. Access the course on digitalenquirer.org or track your progress and earn a certificate on atingi.org. The content contains simple explanations and real-world examples, illustrating secure research and information-gathering methods. The modules feature engaging and creative formats such as tutorials, quizzes, and interactive games. The contents are data-light and available in offline mode via the free atingi Android app. The Digital Enquirer Kit is available in English (including West African, East African, South African, and Southeast Asian dialects), Arabic, Bahasa Indonesian, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Hausa, Hindi, Sinhala, and Swahili, among other languages." (https://tacticaltech.org/projects/Digital-Enquirer-Kit)
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"This case study examines two websites and two blogging accounts which appear to be linked to News Front, a Crimean-based news organisation previously accused of being a source of pro-Kremlin disinformation and influence operations. The sites and accounts shared stories and images in many cases iden
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tical to those published by News Front without attribution. While the impact of the site’s activity is low, the case study provides a glimpse into the inner workings of the broader disinformation ecosystem, highlighting how particular pieces of content and narratives linked to pro-Kremlin influence can spread across the internet using multiple domains. More broadly, it sheds light on the long tail of state-linked online assets. The report shows how disinformation purveyors can use tactics like domain cloaking to avoid platform removals, suggesting a need for renewed thinking about effective forms of policy response for complex disinformation networks." (Publisher description)
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"As of July 2021, Telegram had 550 million active users worldwide – more than the individual user bases of Twitter, Snapchat or Discord. It is the fifth most-popular messaging app after Facebook-owned Whatsapp and Messenger, and WeChat and QQ which dominate the Chinese market [...] For this paper,
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I looked at Telegram’s policies and functionalities to help understand what made it so attractive to misinformation actors both in the Ukraine, which has a long history of Telegram engagement, and Brazil, Spain and Germany where it has had more of an impact in recent years. According to the journalists and digital researchers I interviewed about investigating misinformation and disinformation on Telegram, there are ways to address the issue, both on and off the platform: by investigating movements and their political or financial interest, by producing more responsible journalism, through clearer communication from governments, and through the continued moderation efforts on other social media platforms." (Pages 7-8)
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"This book reflects on the role of social media in the past two decades in Southeast Asia. It traces the emergence of social media discourse in Southeast Asia, and its potential as a "liberation technology" in both democratizing and authoritarian states. It explains the growing decline in internet f
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reedom and increasingly repressive and manipulative use of social media tools by governments, and argues that social media is now an essential platform for control. The contributors detail the increasing role of "disinformation" and "fake news" production in Southeast Asia, and how national governments are creating laws which attempt to address this trend, but which often exacerbate the situation of state control. From Grassroots Activism to Disinformation explores three main questions: How did social media begin as a vibrant space for grassroots activism to becoming a tool for disinformation? Who were the main actors in this transition: governments, citizens or the platforms themselves? Can reformists "reclaim" the digital public sphere? And if so, how?" (Publisher description)
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"From August 2020 until August this summer, we recorded almost 800 cases of digital rights violations in eight countries of south-eastern Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia. Violations took place not just on TikTok, but also on F
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acebook, Twitter and Instagram and were also spread via Viber and WhatsApp. Our report shows that vulnerable groups, including women, minority groups, LGBT +, Roma and Jewish communities, minors and migrants, are particularly exposed to online attacks. Similarly, political and religious tensions, which still continue to mark the cultural and political life of our societies, also surged, further polarising society. All of this suggests that what happens in the virtual space is not much different from the “physical world”. Ongoing tensions and cultural controversies are simply migrating from one place to another and prevention or protection mechanisms are far from successful. It comes as no surprise that the two most common violations this year were “pressure because of expression and activities on the internet” and “manipulation and propaganda in the digital environment”. Journalists were most frequently the target of online threats in two countries – Serbia and Hungary. In both countries, pro-government social media accounts were involved in smear campaigns against independent journalists." (Foreword, page 4)
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"This book provides an overview of fake news detection, both through a variety of tutorial-style survey articles that capture advancements in the field from various facets and in a somewhat unique direction through expert perspectives from various disciplines. The approach is based on the idea that
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advancing the frontier on data science approaches for fake news is an interdisciplinary effort, and that perspectives from domain experts are crucial to shape the next generation of methods and tools." (Publisher description)
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"Con la vista fija en una mejor calidad en la percepción misma de la información, así como en el desarrollo de competencias ciudadanas para disminuir la vulnerabilidad a la manipulación y contrarrestar el secuestro mismo de la libertad de consciencia, surge el Observatorio Venezolano de Fake New
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s, en julio de 2019. Este proyecto de Medianálisis ha defendido el conocimiento como vía para intentar frenar la desinformación y generar un salto cualitativo en nuestra comunicación para la democracia. En esta obra, se compila una selección de trabajos en profundidad desarrollados en un lapso de dos años, difundidos en nuestro sitio web, fakenews.cotejo.info. Contiene reflexiones, análisis y estudios sobre el fenómeno de los contenidos falseados, convirtiéndose en el primero del país que compila ideas sobre esta materia, desarrolladas por expertos venezolanos de diversas disciplinas, entre estas Comunicación Social, Sociología, Psicología Social y Derecho. Hemos querido poner en un solo ejemplar una aproximación colectiva que aborda la conceptualización del problema, sus efectos perniciosos en la conformación de opinión pública y en la democracia, las explicaciones sobre su viralización, los comportamientos societales que le dan forma, las implicaciones sobre la credibilidad de los medios de comunicación, el proceso de confusión que pretenden los laboratorios de propaganda política, entre otras aristas." (Introducción, página 7-8)
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